Typical barbecue grills have a chamber in which a heat source, such as charcoal or gas burners, is underneath the cooking surface where the food is placed. By placing the food directly above the heat source, direct cooking is achieved. Indirect cooking is achieved by placing the food off to the side and not directly above the heat source; or moving the heat source to the side. However, most barbecue grills do not achieve high enough temperatures to achieve the desirable browning or blackening of food items known as the maillard reaction in a short amount of time. It takes a long cooking process to achieve proper browning or blackening, in which case the food is overcooked.
Furthermore when barbecues are operated at the highest possible temperatures, for example when hardwood charcoal is used, the burning charcoal does not give off much aromatic smoke. Smoke is only given off when the wood is burning low, also known as smoldering.
Finally smokers which do use smoldering wood typically have the smoking source in a separate chamber that is connected to the main chamber in which the food resides. As such smokers cannot cook at the desired high temperatures.
Therefore, there is need for an improved grill which addresses these limitations of the prior art.